The weather was a far cry from last weekend.

As I said to Anne when I got out of the water after my 2250, I needed this race.  I didn’t know how much until I finished.  But let’s start at the beginning.  Saturday was the Fort Ritchie Swimfest.  It’s a series of “races” in Lake Royer and participants choose to do the 750m, the 1500m, or the 2250m.  If you haven’t already guessed, it’s a 750m course and the races are looped.  After each loop, you get out of the water, run along the beach, down the dock, and jump back in.

Some of my friends did all three races, and I’m considering it for next year, but I opted for just the 2250m.  Given my recent races, I figured this was going to take me an hour, and I just wanted it to go smoothly.  The water was warm enough that I could have gone sans wetsuit, but wanted the additional practice in my wetsuit.

This was definitely a leisurely day.  Lots of sitting around as friends raced.  Poor Anne managed to slice her foot open right before the 1500m, so ended up not racing, but she’s awesome and was there to watch all of us finish.

Finally, it was my turn and I squeezed into my wetsuit and headed into the water, careful of the foot slicing possibilities.  I made sure to get good and wet so that the water wouldn’t freak me out, though it was in the low 70’s and pretty perfect for wetsuit swimming in my opinion.

I set out for the first loop, working on staying on course and also trying to keep my pace up.  I have a tendency to sit back on the swim, and while I don’t need to go all out, I should definitely try to push a bit harder than I have been.  I continued my tendency to pull right, so I just set myself up to aim a little left of the buoys, which kept me mostly on course.  I managed to figure out a good pattern of breathing and sighting, which was awesome.

I got out of the water for the first loop and glanced at my watch, expecting to see around 20 minutes.  I was at 16 minutes.  An amazing first loop!  But I couldn’t let that sway me.  I just had to keep going, not push too hard to try to break some arbitrary time goal.

Lap two went just as well, though during the run along the beach, my wetsuit had sagged a bit.  Mostly just an annoyance.

I made it out of lap two and glanced at my watch.  34 minutes.  8 minutes faster than my 1500 last weekend.  That felt amazing.  Just that moment made this whole swim worth it.

During the third lap, I felt myself sitting back a bit too much.  I was just swimming, not pushing and racing.  This was not how this race should go.  So I picked it back up and cruised on into the finish.

Final time – 51:17

I was expecting an hour and finished almost 9 minutes faster than that.  This felt amazing, and I definitely needed the mental boost after last weekend’s race.  It was awesome to have Anne still there at the finish to blurt this to as well.  And we stayed and cheered in the rest of our friends.  I’m so proud of everyone who swam.  There were a number of people who were nervous about the distance they had chosen or nervous about the OWS in general, and everyone conquered their fears (and Anne went back Monday after her disastrous wound had closed up and conquered the lake as well) and it was a generally awesome day.

This is not the lake I will be swimming in, but it’s pretty. xuuxuu / Pixabay

Last Saturday, it was in the 50’s and raining.  This Saturday, it’s going to be in the upper 80’s and humid.  This weather is ridiculous.

This Saturday, I’m going up to Lake Royer for the Fort Ritchie Swimfest.  This is one of the best events of the year, because it’s a low key swim practice in real race conditions.  Except that I don’t have to bike or run afterwards, of course.

The race is offered in three distances and you can do one race, two races, or all three.  The course is a 750m loop, so the distances are 750m, 1500, and 2250m.  For anything more than a single loop, you get out of the water and run along the beach, then jump back in off the dock.  This year, I’m doing the 2250.  The past two years, I’ve done the 1500.  So it’s three loops for me.

I don’t mind the idea of the looped course because I know it’s coming, plus it’s kind of nice to be able to get out and grab a drink of water at the well placed table before getting back in.  It also helps mentally break up the race.  And for a lot of people, it also offers an out if they’re nervous about doing the full distance.

This will definitely be my longest swim to date, though of course I’ve done much further distances in the pool.  But I’ve never just done a continuous 2250.  I’m actually not sure I’ve done more than a continuous 1600, if I think about it.  Still, I’m not particularly worried about the distance.  I may not be the fastest swimmer, but I’m capable and competent in the water.  Plus this race is wetsuit legal, so floating is super simple.

After last weekend’s race, I’m glad to be getting back into open water so quickly, so I can really see if my issues were related to the weather or if I just need to get a lot more OWS work in before my next race.  I can’t say I’m looking forward to the early morning, but it will be a fun day with friends and great practice, so I’m glad to be doing it.  And it’s the perfect way to kick off the holiday weekend.